Dawn / Dusk exterior sensor

[beaumeri]

Hi,

I'm looking for a dawn/dusk (daylight sensor) tat can connect to an elk system. The sensor would be mounted on the roof of my house.

Any brand suggestion on this type of sensor? I looked at my local hardware store and they only sell the one that directly control the light circuit. I simply want one to capture the status and the Elk / CQC will manage the lights.

Any suggestion would be appreciated.

Eric

 

[Desert_AIP]

The ELK has an astronomical clock.
The one on My Omni works well.
I use it to turn porch lights and landscape lighting on and off dusk/dawn.

If you want to sense light levels directly then there are simple light detector circuits that can drive a relay connected to a zone.

here is a ready made one.
http://www.smarthome.com/71929/Minotaur-Engineering-LS1-X10-Light-Dusk-Dawn-Sensor/p.aspx


But if you are handy with a soldering iron Velleman makes a simple kit that can interface using a relay.
This kit is simple to build and works. I'm willing to bet the unit above is nearly identical inside.
http://www.vellemanusa.com/us/enu/product/view/?id=351166

Quite a bit cheaper too.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Velleman-MK125-Electronic-Light-Sensing-Switch-Kit-/360283780370

 

[beaumeri]

Thank you. Very helpfull. I about to order the Elk and I've yet figure out all the possibilities..

 

[Desert_AIP]

Since you don't yet have an Elk, I'll add:
The Astronomical clock calculates local sunrise and sunset based on the latitude and longitude or zipcode you enter.
It's pretty accurate and is the same type of algorithym places like meterology centers use.
Much simpler than adding a separate sensor.

But I included the other links in case you wanted for some reason to directly measure local light levels.

 

[beaumeri]

I'm sold to the Astronomical Clock..

 

[Dean Roddey]

BTW, CQC can do things based on sunrise/sunset as well, so you could drive this activity that way, unless you really want to account for maybe it being very overcast and whatnot.